And when the extreme right wing gain a foothold in the door...

[Peikko 1,575]

The broadcaster said that the BBC had mishandled the first appearance of the British National party on the flagship political programme, by setting the “attack dogs” against Griffin.

As a result, some people were likely to have felt some sympathy for Griffin, she hinted.

MacGregor, 68, who presented the Today programme for more than 17 years, said: “I don’t think it was right to completely skew the formula to him and one issue.

“It either gave him a huge audience for his views, which I would not approve of, or it gave the impression of attack dogs against Nick Griffin,” she said.

The BBC has had 243 complaints that Thursday’s show was biased against Griffin, compared with 114 complaining about him appearing on it.

Meanwhile, an ICM survey found that 23 per cent of people said the appearance on Question Time will win the BNP more support.

The poll also showed that almost two-thirds of voters feel the mainstream parties have no credible policies on immigration and 10 per cent agreed with the far-right party that there should be a halt to all future immigration.

MacGregor, who hosts The Reunion and A Good Read on Radio 4, is the latest broadcaster to question the way in which Griffin’s appearance was handled. Privately other members of BBC staff have said the handling of the programme may have backfired.

The BBC declined to comment on MacGregor’s views, however Mark Byford, BBC Deputy Director-General, said yesterday that the BNP leader could appear on the show again.

Mr Byford said he did not regret Mr Griffin's appearance on Thursday and he dismissed accusations that the programme was an attempt to boost viewing figures, insisting it had taken the same format as normal with audience members scrutinising the panellists.

"This was never about audience-chasing at all," he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

The programme was watched by 8 million viewers at its peak time, the highest in the programmes 30 year history.

And Mr Byford reiterated that the BNP's electoral support and two European Parliament seats meant the party fulfilled the necessary criteria to deserve an invite to the show.

While Mr Griffin would not be on Question Time regularly, Mr Byford said he could appear again from time to time because the BNP was "not banned from the airwaves".

He said: "We will consider it in the same framework that we considered this one as well, and constantly monitor it. But I don't regret it – in fact I think the BBC has been shown to take due impartiality incredibly seriously. It's the central value."

He added: "It's a minority party with a small share, so it's not week-in, week-out or even month-in, month-out, but if they are an elected party that can fight elections and they get that support then the BBC thinks they should be invited."

Griffin has complained that he was the victim of a ‘lynch mob’ during his appearance and called for his next Question Time appearance to be held away from London, so that the audience could be drawn from a town with more "English and British people".

Mr Byford also said he had not yet received a complaint from Mr Griffin about his treatment on the show and denied claims it was a "lynch mob", adding: "I think it was democracy in action and democracy working."

And he said the BNP fulfilled the criteria for party election broadcasts on the BBC but would have to pay the production costs.

Despite the enormous publicity generated by the Mr Griffin’s appearance, his own supporters have criticised his performance

Lee Barnes, the BNP's legal officer, wrote on his website that Griffin "should have stood up to these whining, middle-class hypocrites that use the racecard for self-enrichment – and thrown the truth right back into their fat, sanctimonious, hypocritical, self-serving faces". He accused his party's leader of "failing to press the attack" on the "ethnic middle class" for "taking up the best jobs while still playing the bogus racecard for every opportunity".

In the Stormfront online forum,a far right chat room, a BNP sympathiser said: "It was quite a bad performance by Griffin in comparison to his other TV appearances... he did seem overawed by the occasion and was not, for the most part, at his best."

*Police arrested one protester outside the country hotel yesterday, where the BNP held their annual fund-raising dinner.

Mr Griffin and BNP delegates were confronted by nearly a hundred placard-waving protesters at the Chase Hotel in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.

Police hemmed in the protesters who shouted 'Nazi scum' as cars passed through the hotel gates.

Link

Edited October 28, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[Peikko 1,575]

The 'race card' call does seem to be the clarion call of the extreme right